Someday We'll Hold Hands Behind Everybody's Backs
by nessismore
Summary: When everything changes, you have to lean on each other /  Missing moments from the first season of Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers
1. Day of the Dumpster

**Thanks to Netflix, I've been reliving just how much I loved Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers, and just how much I loved Jason and Trini, both separately and together. This is the first part in a a series of missing moments or post-episode scenes for each episode of season 1, and how I think their relationship could have developed kind of beyond the scenes. This is my first Power Rangers fic and I'm still trying to get a handle on all of their voices so hopefully it's not too off!**

**I hope you enjoy!**

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><p><strong>Day of the Dumpster<br>**

It was two in the morning, but Trini wasn't in bed. After everything that had happened that day, after everything that they'd seen and done, sleep was the last thing on her mind even though her body was exhausted. Exhilaration and consuming fear warred for supremacy in her mind, making it impossible to concentrate on any one thing. Holding Mr. Ticklesneezer wasn't even enough to settle her down so she settled for pacing her room in agitation.

Then she heard it, the light knock on her window. First one, a pause, then two taps, followed by three in succession. She didn't bother to open her curtains to check who was there. It was a familiar rhythm, one she knew by heart, and she unlatched the window, grabbed a robe, and waited for Jason to open her window and climb through. One of the benefits of being next door neighbors, she supposed, was that Jason didn't have to bother with the front door when he wanted to talk in the middle of the night.

"I figured you couldn't sleep, either," he said quietly as he sat down on the window sill. Whenever he came by at night he never came all the way in, just confined himself to the area directly in front of the window. While her parents and his probably knew about Jason's occasional late night visits, both Trini and Jason agreed that it would be a breach of their parents' trust if he came in any further than that. "I thought I'd come over. It's no fun thinking alone."

Trini sat down on her bed and smiled. "I was hoping you'd come by."

"You know, you could always hop the tree and come to _my _window," he said with a grin. Trini threw a pillow at him. He chuckled softly as he caught it then tossed it back to her. "It was just a suggestion. We faced a giant gold monster with a sword, and we won. You're going to let a little thing like heights scare you?"

She hugged the pillow to her chest tightly, shuddering at even the prospect of trying that jump again. "There's nothing little about heights. Besides, there's a difference between being up high in a zord and jumping from my window to yours."

He raised his eyebrows skeptically. "If you say so." But she knew he wasn't going to push the issue.

Jason was the only one who knew that she was scared of heights, and that was only because he was the one who'd pulled her up when she tried to make that ill-fated jump from the tree between their houses to Jason's roof. They were ten and he'd been showing up at her window for weeks at that point, trying to scare her in the middle of the night, then scampering back home for fear of waking up one of the adults. He'd made it look so easy that she'd decided to try it one night. The jump from her roof to the tree wasn't bad, but she'd misjudged the jump between the tree and his roof. She'd caught herself on the rain gutter. Luckily, Jason had heard her and came to pull her up, but ever since heights had made her incredibly nervous. Jason never told a soul, but that didn't keep him from teasing her in private.

He was right, though. In light of everything that had happened today, being afraid of heights seemed a little silly (though that didn't change the fact that any future visits to Jason's house would be via the front door).

The smile faded from his face and he knew that his thoughts had turned back to what was probably preoccupying both of them.

"Everything's changed now," he said quietly, and she murmured a quiet agreement. It was funny how just twelve hours ago, her biggest problem had been dealing with Bulk and Skull. But there were more important things now.

"We're supposed to save the world." Trini smiled softly, picking at the edges of her pillow case. She'd always imagined that she would save the world one day, but never in her wildest dreams had she thought it would be like this. She'd thought she'd be fighting to keep the world safe from pollution or social injustice, not from monsters from outer space. Yet, here they were.

When she looked up at Jason, he was leaning on the window frame, his arms crossed. Lit from the dim glow of her bedside lamp, she saw a frown marring his brow. His head was tilted down and his fingers played over the fabric of his sleeves restlessly. He looked uncertain now when before he'd seemed so sure, their fearless leader who'd lead them to an improbable victory. When they agreed to be Power Rangers, they'd all been high on a rush of victory, excited by the idea of being heroes, of having super powers. After they'd left the command center after the battle with Goldar, Jason had been the most excited about being a ranger. None of them had stopped to think of the consequences. But Jason was clearly thinking about it now. Perhaps the weight of what Zordon was asking from them finally hit him.

"Do you really think we can?" Jason asked after a moment, echoing her question from earlier that day.

It was a question she'd been thinking about. A lot. Ever since she got home, actually, and she still didn't know the answer. "I don't know," she said honestly. "But we'll take it as it comes. We did good today."

"We were _lucky_ today," he said with a shake of his head. She couldn't argue with that. "We don't know how to be heroes."

"So we'll learn." Her voice was surprisingly soothing. And as the words came out of her mouth, she believed them. "And with the help of these powers that we have, we'll learn quickly. Look at Billy. The way he was fighting when we were morphed, you never would have thought that today was his first karate class. Kim drove her zord without a problem. And you know how much trouble she has driving a car."

Jason smothered his laughter behind his hand. "I guess you're right."

"And if it takes a little luck along the way, I'll take it."

He looked up and studied her for a long moment, his expression inscrutable.

"What?" she asked when he didn't say anything, just continued to stare at her.

"You sound so confident about this. You're not afraid?"

"I'm terrified," she said with a laugh. She wanted to tell him just how afraid she was, that there was fear clawing in the pit of her belly, that the prospect of trying to save the world was more frightening to her than being up high, but it would do neither of them any good. So she stood and joined him on the window sill, looping her arm through his, and tried to convince both of them that they would be okay. "I'm really terrified, actually, but we're not alone. We've got Zordon and Alpha to guide us. And we've got each other to lean on. Part of me still isn't sure that I want to do this, but we have to. If we don't, who else will?"

"You're right." She could feel the tension slowly draining from him and that somehow put her at ease.

"You were right about one thing, though," she said after a moment. "Today was tough." Even though the suit had mitigated most of the pain, she could still feel just how tough the battle had been. Her muscles were still a little sore, although she wasn't sure if that was from the battle with Goldar or the one with the putties.

He nudged her shoulder. If she could see his face, she was sure that he'd be grinning. "It's not going to get any easier."

Trini squeezed his arm. "Easy's no fun, anyway."

"So we're doing this," he said, a hint of disbelief and wonder in his voice. "We are actually doing this."

She patted his hand. "Was there ever a doubt?"

"I guess not." Even if he was unsure if they _could_ do it, there was never a question between them if they were going to try. When he let out an incredulous laugh, she could feel his shoulder shake. "What are the odds that we're each our favorite color?"

She smiled, turning to look up at him. "Maybe it's destiny."

"Destiny," he said with a grin, savoring the word, letting it roll around on his tongue. He gave a satisfied nod. "I like the sound of that. It's our destiny to save the world. We can't possibly lose now."

"No," she said firmly, resting her head on his shoulder. "We can't."


	2. High Five

**I can't believe it's been a year since I updated this. I didn't mean to leave it quite so long, and hopefully new chapters won't be so long in coming.**

There was that familiar tap tap tapping on her window again. This time, as Trini had just drifted off to sleep, she wasn't as receptive to the sound and tried to ignore it. But when Trini didn't answer, Jason didn't get the hint and go away. No, he kept tapping away at her window until Trini finally rolled out of bed and flung open the curtains in frustration.

It was a very lucky thing that Trini was not big on screaming. Otherwise, her parents would have burst into the room to see Jason sitting outside of her window wearing that stupid skeleton mask that Zack had scared her with earlier that day. As it was, she'd backed away so quickly she fell over.

She scrambled to her feet, rushing to the window and throwing it open to glare at Jason. "That isn't funny." Jason was too busy shaking with silent laughter to listen. She tapped her foot impatiently as she waited for him to stop. It took him a few moments to collect himself, but he finally did, and Trini just shook her head at him. "I thought you stopped doing that when we were twelve."

Jason pulled off the mask and grinned at her, perched just outside her window. "Zack left this at my house and I couldn't resist. I'm sorry." He didn't look or sound contrite in the least.

Trini snatched the mask out of his hands and swatted him on the arm. "Well now that your little prank is out of the way, I'm going back to bed. Good night." She moved to shut the window, but Jason stopped her.

"Wait. I really am sorry. I didn't come here to scare you." Trini leveled him with a skeptical look and he relented. "Fine, I didn't come here _just_ to scare you."

"What did you come here for?"

"I wanted to show you something. Come out here."

He reached for her hand to pull her through the window, but she didn't take "It couldn't wait until morning?"

Jason shook his head and beckoned for her to come out. "It can't. Come on."

With an exasperated sigh, Trini pulled on her robe. "Okay. Hold on. I'll meet you out there."

Again, he stopped her as she tried to shut the window. He grinned. "Not that way. This way."

Her heart leapt into her throat at the thought of climbing out there. "That way? Out the window?"

"Yeah. Come on."

Trini backed away, shaking her head at him. "Uh uh. No way."

Jason climbed into the window and sat on the sill. "Why not?"

"Afraid of heights, remember?" She came to sit next to him, knowing that he wouldn't force her out if she truly didn't want to go.

"But you conquered your fear today. You saved Billy, you climbed up that rope. You can do anything you want to."

"I climbed that rope because Zack scared me," Trini said with a grin. Her smile dimmed a bit, and she looked away, slightly ashamed. "And I didn't save Billy because I was brave, Jason. I did it because I was even more afraid of what would happen if I didn't do it."

"That's what bravery is," he said, nudging her shoulder. "You tell me that, every time I'm afraid we can't do what we do." He took one of her hands in his. "You're one of the bravest people I know."

"Thanks."

"You don't have to, but will you come out with me?"

"I'm still afraid."

"I'll be with you. Do you trust me?"

"You know I do." After a moment she stood, then nodded. He led her onto the roof, and she clutched his hand tightly.

They walked to the back of the house, tiptoeing past her parents' room, then he climbed up to the highest level of the roof, extending his hand out to her. Taking a deep breath, she took it and he helped her clamber up. She tried not to look down, focusing instead on Jason, on the solid steadiness of him. He wouldn't let her fall, and that reassuring thought calmed her down a bit. Still, when she gained her feet, she held on to him tightly.

"Look up, Trini." And she did. She caught her breath at the view. Before her, Angel Grove lay quietly underneath a blanket of stars and the cover of the full moon. She squeezed Jason's hand.

"It's beautiful."

"I come up here sometimes—well, my roof, not yours—and just like to look at the city. It helps me to remember what we're protecting. It feels good, knowing that we're doing something that makes a difference."

"Yeah. We are." For a long while, they stood on the roof, silently staring out at the city.

Then he let go of her hand, draping his arm around her shoulders. "We did good today, didn't we?

"Yeah," she said with a smile, wrapping an arm around his waist. "We did."


End file.
